Legible
- Crisp, clean, bold
- Sans Serif
- High contrast
Less Legible
- Script, curvy, flourished
- “D” looks more like backwards “G”
- Very tight kerning
Illegible
- No counters
- Extremely thick/bolded
- Unclear color choices
- Words cut between lines
When looking at various boxes of Chex Cereal, the first consistency I noticed was the large red “CHEX” on every box - it is obviously the most prominent feature of the series, as it is the brand name. From there, I noticed how each has a section at the top designating it as a whole-grain product. As always, the nutritional information and ingredients are on the sides. Almost all of the fonts are colorful sans serifs, giving it a very clean, sort of “playful” feeling. And obviously, the extra large picture of the actual cereal dominates the package.
For my second prompt, I decided to “go to my favorite coffee shop” and view the signage, menus, etc.
When visiting any Dutch Bros coffee, it’s clear that it is a college-town-centered kind of business. Everything is catered to entice the younger crowd, and keep the environment hip: young, attractive baristas, loud music, cheaper menu selections and energetic people. The typography, I noticed, reflects that 100%. Menus are put in bright, bold and somewhat “playful” fonts. Unlike somewhere like Petes or Starbucks, where things are more dark, clean and “elegent,” Dutch Bros definitely leaves “class” behind. Just in the small menu above, I counted FIVE exclamation points across the board (good luck finding a single one at Petes). Although colorful, the actual Dutch Bros logo seems a bit far off from this mentality, as its sort of plain and just placed next to a windmill. But when considering their name, it fits.
There were also several stickers they give away for free, all of which were either witty, colorful, silly, or all of the above. Again, catering this obvious young, hip college crowd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYxly14v5do
For my video, I actually chose one of my favorite music videos: Dan Black’s “Symphonies”
In this music video, he references/copies/plays off of many different famous cinematic credit scenes, making each of them correspond with the lyrics of the song. I always thought it was beautifully done, and realized it would be a good fit for this assignment.
There are far too many scenes in here to talk about, but a few that caught my eye are as follows:
This structure of text was one of my favorites, as it is very structured and even, which fits with the sort of 80s/90s digital theme for this scene. All of the letters of each word line up in a perfect grid with the others, and appear to be the same dimensions. And although it seems like it is done a lot, I enjoy when letters of words are replaced with shapes or objects (when done right, that is), such as the triangles instead of “O”s here.
Although just centered at the bottom of the screen, this text worked well because the rest of the scene outlines it beautifully. The cement steps outline the top and bottom, while the railings point right down into the title. I thought this made an otherwise boring placement seem very effective and interesting.
I just liked this scene because out of context, the text makes no sense, yet it still looks like a role/actor credit relationship.
Although there is a bit of structure surrounding the image in the upper right, this sequence seemed very “random,” yet also beautifully effective. Another technique that I really enjoy is leaving holes out of letter forms, sort of abstracting them to their basic shapes, yet our brain still somehow deciphers it.
The main concept behind my cubes is socioeconomic standing/class, or more specifically my perspective on it, and how it changed. I decided to represent this with cars for a couple of reasons, the first being that cars have always been a huge part of my family life. Growing up with an older brother and dad who were very mechanically inclined, there wasn’t a moment where someone wasn’t working on, racing, or talking about automobiles in my household. The second reason was kind of an offshoot of the first; because of this heightened sense of cars, this was the first thing I would notice that reflected someone’s “class” or economic status.
With regards to each cube, they represent what I viewed myself at in a social standing. Growing up, I basically only saw cars nicer than my family’s, so in the first cube, I represented an obviously distraught/wrecked car, in black and white. In the middle, I showed an actual image of one of my cars, a 1991 Pontiac Grand Prix STE. I emphasized the color in this cube because for once in my life, I was viewing “my place” in this world correctly, more detailed and clear than ever before. For my third cube, I showed a very fancy car, and while I don’t actually have that nice of a car, that is kind of how I view my life day to day now; I see what I have and am extremely thankful for it, making the most of what I have, and being proud of it. I don’t take things for granted anymore.
I tied the three cubes together mainly with the cars fitting together; this all relates to my life as a whole throughout this “moment,” so I wanted them to fit together as a whole to match that idea. I think it worked pretty well.
Here are my final cubes. I reprinted them all to improve my craftwork, and used the color images on the third cube.
And here are the reflection question answers.
What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
I honestly think my biggest challenge of this project was getting the craft up to standards. Assembling the cubes was extremely difficult for me…lining things up, and glueing tabs without getting glue on the printed surfaces was extremely difficult. I eventually got it by taking my time and after a few revisions, but it was still extremely frustrating at times. The final cubes took me several hours to fold and assemble.
What discoveries have you made throughout the project?
I think the main discovery I made throughout the project was that I always wanted to make things more complicated than necessary. With each revision of my cubes, I greatly simplified the overall scheme, and yet I believe they became stronger with each simplification. I brought the cubes from probably 12-15 images to just 3, and although the intricacies of my cubes still make them fairly complicated, I think they have improved greatly.
What have you learned or experienced from working on the 2D narrative project to the 3D Cube project?
As odd as it sounds, before this project, I hadn’t ever really worked on a “series” of works, so making the 3D project relate back to the 2D project was a new experience, yet an exciting one. I really enjoyed my 2D project idea, so being able to literally take that to another dimension was fun. It was quite a challenge to make it all work, but I enjoyed the process immensely.
How has your ideas about graphic design changed since you began the class?
I think the main change in my perspective of graphic design was the “media” it is displayed in. Before this class, I assumed graphic design was entirely on the computer. After the process work in the first two projects, I found that working with my hands was actually quite beneficial (especially with the cubes; trying to mentally figure out how they would fold from the images on the computer was nearly impossible). I especially realized this with the in-class project using old magazines. It was tough to come up with ideas that quickly, but my final “poster” from that day was surprisingly complete and interesting…I would love to photograph that and bring it onto the computer to add type and actually use it someday. Before this class, I would never have considered tangible material for graphic design.
During class last Monday, a lot of suggestion was given to me with regards to adding color to my third cube. I originally had it black and white to be over-all symmetrical, and also to emphasize the color in my center “moment.” I tried adding color back to the third image, though, and I believe it is a lot stronger. my center moment is still emphasized because of the orange/grungy color, however the color in the third cube makes the piece as a whole a little more visually interesting, as well as mesh with my story/moment a lot more. I think that was great advice from you guys, thanks! Here’s how it looks now with the third cube back in color.
Here’s the next rendition. I like the idea behind this set; its simple, yet the cars line up (similar to my triptych), and the word “perspective” not only lines up on top, but is displayed on each cube so they can stand alone. I had a few issues of things lining up, but will edit those further. Also, I want to make the back line up in a meaningful way, along with the bottom.
Here they are separate…
And here they are together.
Here’s what I had for my meeting on Wednesday. I liked the standing idea, but in my meeting, it seemed like it was too complicated. There were too many images, and too many things going on. I got a lot of great advice, and am applying it to my further drafts.
This was my second rendition for my meeting. Simpler, but also rather “cliche”
Here are a few alterations of my triptych I tried, although didn’t feel like they worked as well as my design I had on Monday, so didn’t use.
I liked the unity of the all black and white version, however felt it would be less noticeable and “poppy” compared to what I originally had. And with both of these versions, the “American” color scheme was lost, which I felt added to the meaning behind my feeling/message.
So here is what I had on Monday, and mounted/turned in on Wednesday
As far as project 1b, I started with a sort of mind-map/writing on how I felt during each time period of my “moment”. Here is what I wrote.
I categorized my feelings under before/during/after, and then wrote how I felt.
Then I took the template handed out in class, and tried to sketch out an idea. I kinda went off of what I had on the mood board, connecting 3 kinds of houses (one crappy, one very nice, and my parents house in the center). I then added a roof, and had some words across the other two panels.
From there I continued this idea off of my mood board by using illustrator on the computer. I used cars, similar to what was on my triptych, but this time with three. I used my old car for the middle panel, as well as the back. I then added an under-car shot, and the word “class” in bold, white helvetica on the top.
I kind of like where this idea is going when coming from my mood board, however the third row on my mood board was by far the weakest, so that will have to be redone if it could be my third “cube”. I want it to be family-related in some what, but don’t quite have an idea on how to do that at the moment. I will play around with the idea and bring it to my midterm-meeting on Wednesday.
For my mood board, I decided to do 3 sets of kinds of images. The upper most was 3 houses, but lined up as one. I copied this idea for the cars as well. The third row represents life events or family. When looking at the vertical columns, each column represents a different “lifestyle” or “class” The middle column represents my life; Its pictures of my actual house and car, although the family picture is just representation. I chose the color scheme to both unify each group of three, but also to push the fact that these “perspectives” kind of represent the American way (Red, White, and Blue).
I really enjoyed the simplicity and fluidity of this icon. It is nearly symmetrical, but doesn’t quite connect on the right side. Although just two pieces, it almost looks like a frog or a face, making it identifiable as something other than letter forms.
I think this was my favorite icon, because it adds the human element of emotion to something so simple and basic. I like what narrative can be told from what literally started out as 6 tops of the lowercase “e”.
I liked this icon as well, as it seemed natural and tree-like. I think with the addition of color, this icon could be even more effective (a light, pale green would make it seem more natural I believe).
This was one of my strongest patterns from the first set of 5. I liked the sort of checkered pattern of the faces. I decided to use this design as basis for the second 5 sketches.
For this rendition, I first inverted the colors, and then made one of the faces a simple white stroke rather than filled in. I wanted to make somethin stick out, without being centered or symmetrical to offset the original pattern, making it a bit more dynamic.
For this rendition, I decided to go for organization and symmetry, based on various sizes. I like the idea of it, but once done with it, the singular column of repitition seemed rather static and uninteresting.
For this rendition, I decided to take my previous rendition, yet put it at an angle, and extend the sizes down even further. Although still symmetrical, I think this design is a lot more visually interesting than the last. I like how the largest faces are cut off by the 8x8 border: although not actually seen, it gives our minds something to do and complete. I believe this to be my strongest alteration to my original pattern.
These are what I believe to be my 3 strongest sketches. The first, spirally one was enticing to me because of its simplicity. My story has a lot to do with seeing this from a different perspective, and realizing that the size of one “problem” is quite menial in another setting. The change of size in font follows this realization. It was done in InDesign.
My second sketch was one made by hand cutting and pasting. I liked the symmetry and simplicity of it, all following that one central line. I would like to play more off of this idea.
My third sketch was a focus on my word: Perspective. Yet again, I wanted something clean and simple, but wanted to relate to the word. Within the middle “E”, I made what appears to be “3D” glasses. It is somewhat cliche, but the idea of glasses showing more depth, or a different view of things really related both the word “Perspective”, as well as my “Ah Hah” moment.
Growing up in Clackamas, Oregon, I was surrounded by many families who were very well off. I used to get frustrated driving my 18 year-old Pontiac to school when many of my friends had brand new Acuras or BMWs. I’ve always loved my family, but thought that it was unfair that we didn’t have the luxuries of those around us. As it turns out, I was quite naive
My biggest “Ah Hah” moment came my sophomore year in college.
I met one of my closest friends that year, and through learning about his past, and where he came from, my perspective greatly changed. In the broader scheme of things, I realized I was very fortunate (and now thankful) to have had what I had: a house in a nice neighborhood, a car to call my own, the ability to go to college. I noticed I had quite possibly the best family I could ask for. When hearing about my friend’s childhood, he described not remembering most of it because he didn’t want to. Between fights, divorces, siblings running away, suicides of extended family, etc, his childhood sounded like a never-ending nightmare. I couldn’t imagine not having the childhood I had. Everything was perfect, everyone was happy and healthy, and we always lived comfortably.
Since Sophomore year, I’ve put so much thought into everything, considering it in the wider, more-appropriate spectrum. Not only did I get an awesome, fun friend, but he gave me a completely different outlook on life, something I will never be able to repay him for.
